A stent or similar device is an implantable medical device introduced into a body lumen and is well known in the art. Typically, a stent is implanted in a blood vessel at the site of a stenosis or aneurysm endoluminally, i.e. by so-called “minimally invasive techniques” in which the stent, in a radially reduced configuration, optionally restrained in a radially compressed configuration by a sheath and/or catheter, is delivered by a stent delivery system or “introducer” to the site where it is required. The introducer can enter the body from an access location outside the body, such as through the patient's skin, or by a “cut down” technique in which the entry vessel is exposed by minor surgical means. The device is enlarged radially at the treatment site.
Stents can be implanted in a variety of body lumens or vessels such as within the vascular system, urinary tracts, bile ducts, fallopian tubes, coronary vessels, secondary vessels, etc. Stents can be self-expanding, expanded by an internal radial force, such as when mounted on a balloon, or a combination of self-expanding and balloon expandable (hybrid expandable).
Stent protectors are used to protect the stent before the stent and catheter assembly are introduced and subsequently the stent deployed and implanted into a body lumen. The stent protector protects the stent from physical damage or contamination due to the transfer of unwanted material and is removed at the time of use to permit deployment of the stent. Examples of stent protectors are provided in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,991,639, 6,783,542, 6,764,504, 6,416,529, 6,152,944, 5,893,868, and 5,342,307, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
The art referred to and/or described above is not intended to constitute an admission that any patent, publication or other information referred to herein is “prior art” with respect to this invention. In addition, this section should not be construed to mean that a search has been made or that no other pertinent information as defined in 37 C.F.R. §1.56(a) exists.
Without limiting the scope of the invention a brief summary of some of the claimed embodiments of the invention is set forth below. Additional details of the summarized embodiments of the invention and/or additional embodiments of the invention may be found in the Detailed Description of the Invention below.